I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is one of Harlan Ellison’s most enduring and popular short stories. It explores themes of dystopia, religion, and technological progress, as well as the dangers of technology. Ellison is a multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winning author and screenwriter whose work often tackles the darker, grittier sides of speculative and science fiction. “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” a story about a cruel artificial intelligence torturing the five remaining survivors of a global apocalypse, critiques the unchecked competitive technological advancements of the Cold War era and explores the concept of humanity’s vulnerability to its own inventions. The story won the 1968 Hugo Award.

This guide refers to the open-source version available on New York City’s College of Technology OpenLab, which corresponds to the version printed in Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: Stories, published in 2014 by Open Road Media.

Content Warning: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” deals with disturbing topics, including physical and sexual abuse/violence, body horror, suicidal ideation, and homicide. Misogynistic slurs are repeated only in direct quotes.

The story opens with the image of Gorrister, one of five survivors of a global apocalypse, hanging dead from the ceiling of a vast, artificially-created space that functions as a prison for the survivors.